I think you should read up on natural birth, active labour, shoulder dystocia, epidurals and the escalation of interventions and come to your own decisions. Its great that you have trust in your medical team and their plan for you. However as an experienced mother who has had three children previously I have had better experiences and treatment that I was not happy with and which had implications that meant i suffered longer term health problems. Yes i had three beautiful healthy children who came out safely and i am very thankful for that. However i have educated myself about birth what is normal and what is not and came to the conclusion that i could have had a better experience and i'm kinda kicking myself i didn't do it earlier so i could have said no thanks to some of the procedures.

Things like rupture of membranes and vaginal examinations seem like no big deal in the grand scheme of things but once you are on that treadmill one thing can lead to the next and before you know it you may be in stirrups with foreceps round your baby's head or on the operating table.

I just wish i knew before my choices and advocated for myself.

Hope this makes sense also on my phone so its difficult to recap what i have just said!

Hi im only 29 weeks but also bmi 39 at booking in apt so therefore under consultant led care.reading this post has completley confused me. I havd been to see the cinsultant and anestitist andhe did recommend an epi but said it was entirely my decision it wouldnt be forced on me but when he went through the statistics ofproblems at birth of larger women such as shoulder getting stuck in birth canal and larger women having longer labours etc I weighed up that an epi would be a benefit to me . I wouldnt tire as easily and probably would have more energy to keep strong and pushing, if there was a problem and I needed an emergency c section I would be in the theatre and the baby would be out in a couple of minutes as opposed to then having anesthetic administered. Look this is what medical advice I have been given and im now intrigued to hear why people are against it? Also can someone explain wha the risks of being induced are pleased as iv not heard this before. I only knew the risks associated with going overdue does induction risk outweigh these? And my last question is why dont people like the idea of being monitored? I tyhought id be happy to be kept a close eye on like that to be rest assured you could hear your babies hb ok and know hes not distressed. In the last yr 3 of my friends have guven birth all larger ladies. 1 girl was induced had epi and then c section no side effects or complications, my other friend induced epi natural delivery all ok no probs and my other friend went into labour naturally had a very long labour on just gas and air and baby got stuck halfway coming out and previous to that was distressed as hb kept dropping very low. and I dont really want a traumatic experience like that so id do whatever the proffessionals recommend to me as my belief is they know best they have alot more experience I do. So reading this thread has completley shocked me asim now intrigued as to why everones against induction and epis and the risks involved that im so naive about. Just to be clear I passed my gtt and my bp is normally around 110/65 so upto now no health scares. Sorry for all typo errors stupid touchscreen phones arent for essay writing lol

I would definitely read up on it. I think it is easy to be blinded by their 'expertise.' I pointed out to my consultant today that there could well be a correlation between larger women needing c-sections and the fact they push continuous monitoring and early epidurals on us, both result in you being immobile and usually on your back. The worse positions for labour, slowing it down, leading to not feeling pushing, assisted deliveries like ventouse/forceps and c-sections. He actually agreed with me. That was when he said about siting the epidural without the actual meds to stop this and be a precaution only if I needed section so wouldn't need general. My first midwife also advised me to fight the continuous monitoring which I will do. Every 15 Minutes is fine unless baby shows signs of distress. Continuous monitoring has you restricted to laying/sitting so can not move and walk around, again slowing down labour (no wonder the stats show larger ladies labour longer then!).

With regards the in induction, it is unnatural. Dates can be out and things can happen too fast putting stress on you and the baby.

But, you need to do your own research - I learnt a lot from my NCT ante natal classes which made me question the advice from consultant/anaethetist.
XX

I don't mind being monitored as a "normal" lady would be but why constant monitoring?
Obviously if there's an issue with the baby's heartbeat id do it no questions asked but not just because of my high BMI.

I also agree that of course ladies with high BMI are more prone to c sections/interventions. If we're strapped to a bed for hours and hours unable to move, what do they expect!!!?!
Also just the fact that they're so negative. It makes you doubt yourself and have no confidence in your abilities to birth successfully.
I'm fortunate that this is my fourth baby so have faith in my body but if this would've happened with my first baby I'd have been a right mess :/

Have a read and think about the points raised here and think about the kind of birth you truely want, yes having a healthy baby is the most important thing at the end of the day but there are an awful lot of people who have a difficult time quite needlessly who then fear childbirth when they face it a second time or are that traumatised they never have another child and that sucks quite honestly when you can see what childbirth can be like!

Thanks for all your replies, its good that you all feel this strongly. I on the other hand am still not convinced im afraid. I think alot of you have had previous births so know how your body handled labour before and your right to stick by your guns. With this being my first theres far too much conflicting information out there for me to beable to say for definate whats right for me. My only personal experience is my 3 friends who have given birth within the last year. 2 had intervention and meds and came out all smiles 1 opted for all natural against recommendation and had a baby in distress, a severe tear and vows now never to have another child. Do you see where im coming from? Im not saying that things are going to be smooth for me and i may well in 3 months time say i wish i hadnt taken my medical advice and gone all nautural i really regret my decision, but i know also things can go the other way and i really really will never forgive myself if something goes wrong because i thought i knew better than the proffessionals. I also am a firm beleiver thats theres a lot of scaremongering articles written on the internet. And i appreciate things are different in other countries but here in the UK the NHS are tight with their spending anyway, budgets are cut and they have to do everything they can to keep time and spend to a minimum. So why would they a ) spend the money and time providing you with consultant lead care if they didnt think it was necessary, b) offer you epidurals, inductions... all of which cost the nhs more money and time, like you say longer labours, staying in hospital longer if they didnt think it was necessary? I agree with what you all say about being able to move around and be in the position you want for labour and having constant monitoring restricts this. Another fact my consultant told me and ive read on here several times is that an eidpural on average only delays a normal labour by 1-2 hours. In the grand scheme of things thats not long? Plus this about you not being able to feel when to push, people ive spoken whove had them say you do know what to push, you can still feel everything ie. pressure, and you still get the urge to push its just you dont feel the pain? If you go into the labour and birth section so many ladies have had epis and totally recommend them. SO again conflicting information. And i think if im honest the facts and statitstics of the risks of going overdue still ring clear in my mind, 1 in a 1000 that go overdue are stillborn, whether it be right or wrong this should be mentioned on here it is another statistic or fact, add this to the fact that ladies with a high BMI are linked to stillbirths for various other reasons, i just feel like i cant ignore these statements. My midwife said to me when we were discussing pain relief "theres a lot of women out there who like to be all philosophical and be all i want the natural its my right, then when they have been in labour a few hours they are screaming blue murder at staff begging for the epidural". Then you have to think well what was the point. But anyway im drifting now because the original discussion of this thread was being induced at 40 weeks. I just thinkfor every day i went past 40 weeks would be one extra day of worry and anxiety for me that something was going to go wrong and more stress for the baby. Again you can argue bringing the baby on at 40 weeks if its not ready can be stressful for the baby also so what is the right answer here?

Like it was mentioned earlier in this post, for those who have had the experience already you know whats best for you, but first time mothers really dont have a clue. How do we know for sure whats best for our unborn child and our own health. and its a sad state of affairs when you dont trust your medical professionals advice. I know that i am the only one who disagrees with this thread and im not disagreeing as such its just im not all for doing it my way i know best because i dont. and i think you just have to go with your gut instincts. Gut instinct is key here for all you ladies its to not have the intervention, for me it is to go for it if theres a risk and its advised.

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